Month: March 2022

1918-1928: The Triumph of American Film…

• Citizen Kane (1941) dir. Orson Welles
  • Used light very interestingly. imitated sepulchre.
• The Thief of Bagdad (1924) dir. Raoul Walsh
  • Not based on actual Baghdad, an artist’s imagination
  • states theme upfront
  • uses soft lighting and shallow focus to portray femininity
• Desire (1936) dir. Frank Borzage
  • Used light to make eyelashes cast shadows
• Gone with the Wind (1939) dir. Victor Fleming
  • Used dollies to move camera and get an image glide, like blown by wind
• Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) dir. Mervyn LeRoy
  • Choreographed with abstract patterns
• Singin’ in the Rain (1952) dir. Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen
  • Even shadows have light
• The Maltese Falcon (1941) dir. John Huston
  • Used harder lighting and sharper shadows to convey the melodrama of the movie
• The Scarlet Empress (1934) dir. Josef von Sternberg
  • Paramount’s style was very sparkly costumes, feminine and romantic
• The Cameraman (1928) dir. Edward Sedgwick and Buster Keaton
• One Week (1920) dir. Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton
  • Thought like an architect to make gags
  • Movies are about looking, break fourth wall
• Sherlock Jr. (1924) (introduced in Episode 1) dir. Buster Keaton
  • Keaton helped define silent cinema
• Three Ages (1923) dir. Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline
  • Uses overhead shot to exaggerate building height
  • creative camera positions
• Buster Keaton Rides Again (1965) dir. John Spotton
  • Uses spontaneity with plans in gags
• The General (1926) dir. Clyde Bruckman and Buster Keaton
  • repeats jokes in second half, but backwards
  • stunning climax
• Divine Intervention (2002) dir. Elia Suleiman
  • Influenced by Keaton, films in deadpan. Stays back from action
• Limelight (1952) dir. Charlie Chaplin
  • Less into camera, more body movement
• City Lights (1931) dir. Charlie Chaplin
• The Kid (1921) dir. Charlie Chaplin
  • Recreated chaplin’s childhood
  • Humanized comic cinema
• Bad Timing (1980) dir. Nicolas Roeg
  • Uses filming of hands to show inner thoughts of characters
• The Great Dictator (1940) dir. Charlie Chaplin
  • Metaphor
• Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (1953) dir. Jacques Tati
  • inspired by chaplin pants
• Toto in Color (1953) dir. Steno
  • Imitated chaplin hat
• Awaara (1951) dir. Raj Kapoor
  • Character modeled after chaplin’s tramp
• Sunset Boulevard (1950) dir. Billy Wilder
  • IMpersonation of chaplin
• Some Like It Hot (1959) dir. Billy Wilder
  • Recreated chaplin scene
• Luke’s Movie Muddle (1916) dir. Hal Roach
  • Imitated chaplin too much
• Haunted Spooks (1920) dir. Alfred J. Goulding and Hal Roach
  • Moved away fromcahplin impersonation and created new image
• Never Weaken (1921) dir. Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor
• Safety Last! (1923) dir. Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor
  • Final scene of climbing iconic
• I Flunked, But… (1930) dir. Yasujirō Ozu
  • influenced by “ballsy dreamer” image

…And the First of its Rebels

• Nanook of the North (1922) dir. Robert Flaherty
  • Shows struggle and psychology of Nanook.
  • Didn’t use actors or stars
  • created the documentary
• The House Is Black (1963) dir. Forough Farrokhzad
  • used tracking shots to turn depressing subject into poetry
• Sans Soleil (1983) dir. Chris Marker
  • used real places to write fictional commentary
• The Not Dead (2007) dir. Brian Hill
  • turned man’s words about war into poems
• The Perfect Human (1967) (shown as part of The Five Obstructions) dir. Jørgen Leth
• The Five Obstructions (2003) dir. Lars von Trier and Jørgen Leth
  • played with obstructions in film making
• Blind Husbands (1919) dir. Erich von Stroheim
  • used realism to undermine hollywood fantasy
• The Lost Squadron (1932) dir. George Archainbaud and Paul Sloane
• Greed (1924) dir. Erich von Stroheim
  • Picky about minor details
• Stroheim in Vienna (1948)
• Queen Kelly (1929) (shown as part of Sunset Boulevard) dir. Erich von Stroheim
  • movie was never made, but referenced
• The Crowd (1928) dir. King Vidor
  • tells a story of grief in ordinary people
  • tried out different endings on audiences
• The Apartment (1960) dir. Billy Wilder
• The Trial (1962) dir. Orson Welles
• Aelita: Queen of Mars (1924) dir. Yakov Protazanov
  • Played with ideas of realism
  • very abstract and geometric costumes and sets
• Posle Smerti (1915) dir. Yevgeni Bauer
  • Shapes of light imitates vermeer
  • laments and pessimistic, not optimistic like others
• The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer
  • Protagonist filmed onlyin close up, very realist view of actress.
  • filmed in silence
• Ordet (1955) dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer
  • “you cant simplify realtiy without understanding it first”
• The President (1919) dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer
  • very simple sets, used mist to soften the image
• Vampyr (1932) dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer
  • focuses on shadows to tell story
  • very spare decoration
• Gertrud (1964) dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer
• Dogville (2003) dir. Lars von Trier
  • opposite of romantic cinema
• Vivre sa vie (1962) (introduced in Episode 1) dir. Jean-Luc Godard
  • references the Passion of Joan of Arc